comingrevival

The coming revival will be just like how it was when
the Gospel first began.

It will be:

(1) miraculous,
and

(2) it will
attract the attention of whole regions.

Let’s have a look at what it was like in the beginning
of the Gospel.

John's Ministry

First of all, look at John’s ministry:

MATTHEW 4:16

16 The people which sat in darkness saw GREAT LIGHT;
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Notice that the people saw “a great
light.”

It was no small thing. All Israel went out to hear John.
Even the Romans came.

John’s ministry made such a public impact that
Jesus called him “a burning shining light.”

ISAIAH 40:5

5 And the glory of the Lord shall
be revealed, and ALLFLESH SHALLSEE IT TOGETHER…

The glory wasn’t revealed in a small building in some
corner of the city.

“All flesh shall see it together,” the prophet
said.

Yet as gret as John’s ministry was, it was only a preparation for what
was to come – the ministry of Jesus.

The Ministry of Jesus

Jesus' ministry was so great that John said He had the
Spirit without measure (John 3:34).

John said, "I must decrease and He must increase".

Jesus actually made and baptized more disciples than
John.

“And all men come to him,” said John’s disciples (John
3:26).

His miracles of healing and His teaching attracted
multitudes.

The Apostles' Ministries

Now let’s look at the effects of the Apostles’
ministries after the resurrection.

ACTS 5:12-16

12 And by the hands of the apostles were MANY SIGNSAND WONDERS[not just afew] wrought among the people…

14 And believers were the more added to the Lord,
MULTITUDES BOTH OF MEN AND WOMEN [not just a few].

15 Insomuch that THEY BROUGHT FORTH
THE SICK INTO THE STREETS, AND LAID THEM ON BEDS AND COUCHES, THAT AT THE LEAST
THE SHADOW OF PETER PASSING BY MIGHT OVERSHADOW SOME OF THEM. [Now notice what
progresses…]

16 There came also a MULTITUDE OUT OF THE CITIES
ROUND ABOUT UNTO JERUSALEM, BRINGING SICK FOLKS, AND THEM WHICH WERE VEXED WITH
UNCLEAN SPIRITS: AND THEY WERE HEALED EVERY ONE[every one!]

The Apostles certainly continued in the style of both
John and of Jesus – they attracted the attention of whole regions.

And they followed in Jesus’ ministry of miracles,
as Jesus said they would:

John 14:12

12 Verily, verily I say unto you, He that
believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than
these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Paul's Ministry

We observe the same two characteristics in Paul's ministry:

ACTS 19:10

10 And this continued by the space of two years; so
that ALL THEY WHICH DWELT IN ASIA HEARD THE
WORD OF THE LORD JESUS, BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS.

11 And God wrought SPECIAL MIRACLES[better than
ordinary ones!!] by the hands of Paul:

12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick
handkerchiefs or aprons, and THE DISEASES DEPARTEED FROM THEM, AND THE EVIL
SPIRITS WENT OUT OF THEM...

20 So MIGHTILY GREW the word of God AND PREVAILED.

The Gospel got the upper-hand in society!

People
eventually called the Apostles “those who have turned the world upside down”
and said, “all the world is gone after them.”

God never intended for the manifestation of His glory
to be contained to a little building in the corner of society. It’s not
just for a few lucky people who happen to live next-door to a witnessing
Christian.

The glory of the Lord shall be revealed! All
flesh shall see it together. A river will flow into society!

If there was so much glory manifested publicly in
Moses’ ministry, which was all to do with a temporary covenant - how
much more glory do you think God wants to reveal through the Gospel, which is
the prized and final plan of God since before the foundation of the
world!

The manifested glory in our day ought to make the plagues, the parting of the red
sea, the pillar of fire and cloud, the shaking of the mountain and the
provision in the desert seem small - because it is much more important
now.

II CORINTHIANS 3:7-11

7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold
the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done
away:

8 How shall not THE MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT BE RATHER GLORIOUS?

9 For if the ministration of condemnation [because the Law of Moses broughtcondemnation] be glory, MUCH MORE doth the ministration of righteousness [the gospel bringsrighteousness]EXCEED IN GLORY.

10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect,
by reason of THE GLORY THAT EXCELLETH.

11 For if that which is done away was glorious, MUCH MORE that
which remaineth IS GLORIOUS.

It’s coming!

How it Works

Joel said, “…and it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered [saved]… (Joel
2:32).

But notice that is preceded by, “And it shall come
to pass afterward, that I will pour my spirit upon all flesh…” (Joel 2:28).

It’s all done by the Spirit of God.

That’s the significance of the current move of
God. God is visiting the church with a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of
God to prepare it for the coming revival.

Anything God does in the world, He will do through the
church. Because the bible says, “Out of Zion the perfection of beauty,
God hath shined.” If God is going to reveal his salvation and glory to
ALL FLESH (“All the endsof the earth have seen [not just heard
about but seen demonstrated] the salvation of God”) its going to start
by a fresh outpouring on his church.

Be aware of God is wanting to do. Discern the
significance of all this laughter and joy, all this healing & deliverance
and all these visions and gifts that accompany this current outpouring.
It’s not just a temporary refreshing. It is intended to result in revival
and church growth. God is up to something bigger.

Testimony

The following is a testimony of the extent to which
this outpouring can progress.

I was sitting in a church ready to preach, thinking
over what I was going to say. Then the Holy Spirit said to me, “I don’t
want you to preach that sermon.” Now, it had a title, an introduction,
three points and a conclusion (and I could even have thrown a poem in at the
end)! But I said, “Why not, Lord, it’s about the Holy Spirit, and they
need to hear about the Holy Spirit in this church.” The Lord said, “This
church has had 20 years of good preaching and teaching, what they need is a
fresh move of the Holy Spirit. And they’ll learn more about that by
watching me move than by hearing you talk about it.”

“So what do you want me to do?” I asked.

“I want the people to experience the Joy of the Lord,”
He replied.

When I stood up to preach I said, “I know we usually
preach first, but tonight lets allow the Holy Spirit to move first.” I
got them singing a joyful song but I had a sense that wasn’t quite what God was
talking about when He said, “I want the people to experience the Joy of the
Lord.”

I didn’t quite know what to do though, so I stepped
off the stage and laid hands on a lady and said, “Receive the Joy of the
Lord.” To my surprise she started laughing and ended up rolling around
the floor. So I tried it with someone else. They started laughing
too. It spread to the whole church. 45 minutes later we had some
testimonies of people who were touched, and we discovered that healing and all
sorts of things accompanied the laughter!

In future meetings, we gave more room to the Holy
Spirit to touch people like this. The laughter became deeper.
People were so drunk they had to be carried home. As interest grew, the
church started meeting more often, not just a couple of times a week.
Even prayer meetings and music practices were affected. People started
seeing visions as well. Tongues were poured out. Deliverance began
to take place. They gladly allowed it to interrupt their song list!

Finally, young people were so full of the Spirit that
when they went to school they couldn’t stop speaking in tongues – apparently
including known languages such as Chinese and English (which they hadn’t
studied!) The teachers asked, “Where did you learn to speak these
languages so fluently?” So the young girl asked God to enable her to
speak her own language again so she could explain. The whole class fell
under the power of God. Classes couldn’t continue. The next day the
same thing happened. Students began to come from other class rooms,
wanting to be prayed for. Everyone she touched fell over and when they
got up they asked with tears, “What have we got to do?” As she laid hands
on them, she prophesied and cast out demons. Classes couldn’t continue
for weeks so that the Principal threatened to expel her. She brought students
to the Holy Ghost meetings at church, and as soon as they walked in the door,
they fell under the power and cried. The TV news arrived to the school to
film her. But to avoid too much attention (and trouble with the teachers)
she refused. To further avoid attention, she laid hands on her friends to
impart the same anointing, so they could be used as well as her – and everyone they
touched received from God in the same way. It spread to other schools and
universities. Students in universities were on the floor of lecture rooms
laughing in the Spirit, under a visitation of God.

Meetings that started with 25 people grew to over 400
in a matter of weeks as other churches began to close down their own services
to join the revival. Unprecedented unity was the result.
Backsliders came back. Reconciliation was made. Finances
multiplied. As pastors went back to their own churches, the glory spread,
as they agreed to put aside their programs and let the Holy Spirit move.

One such pastor was opposed to it at first. But
finally the Holy Spirit challenged him, “Are you going to let me move in your
meetings like this?”

He agreed. The presence of God came in like a
mist. Unbelievers walking past saw the building on fire. They came
the next day to give the pastor their condolences for losing his building- but
there the building was – perfectly fine! In that meeting, they had to put
the children outside to allow room for the adults. After the adults had a
glorious meeting they went outside to get their kids. And guess where
they were? Flat on their backs on the ground under the power of God –
seeing visions of Jesus, angels and laughing. The church grew.

Some Baptist pastors came to have a look. When
they went back to their own church, people began laughing in the Spirit and
speaking in tongues while he spoke, without anyone even laying hands on
them. The place where they were gathered began to shake so they all ran
outside thinking it was an earthquake. But the neighbours said, “There’s
no earthquake. Your church is the only building shaking.” There
were some visitors in the church that day. When they returned to their
own churches, it spread their also.

The anointing is transferable.

You see, the laugher brings with it the potential for
revival, if we become intimate with what the Holy Spirit is wanting to do in
meetings and in our lives, on a continuing basis.

Lets be like the children of Issachar who “had
discernment of the times and seasons, to understand what Israel ought to
do.”

[This testimony, with footage of some of the actual
meetings, is available on video].

Letting God Move in Meetings

Having discerned what God is wanting to do, we can
learn to make adjustments and flow with it in our services, in order to maximize
the potential of the anointing that God is making available in these days.

Some Suggestions:

1.This is not just a temporary visitation

If we look on it as merely a season of laughing and then we go back to
church as normal, we could be like Israel who did not perceive the
hour of her visitation.

2.“Refreshing” is
meant to be a permanent state of the church

Let’s clear something up about
“times of refreshing.” It’s possible to over-emphasize the truth
that God moves in seasons by calling something seasonal when really it should
have stayed and just been the beginning!

We often hear Acts 3:19 quoted,
but let’s look at it in context and notice what it’s really saying:

ACTS 3:18-21

18 But those things,
which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets,

that Christ should
suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

19 Repent ye
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, WHEN THE TIMES
OF REFRESHING SHALL COME FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD;

20 And he shall send
Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

21 Whom the heaven
must receive until the times of restitution of all things…

It’s clear that “the times of
refreshing” which Peter referred to is the offer made to Israel through
the gospel. The time frame for this “refreshing” begins at the cross
(verse 18), is received through repentance (verse 19) and lasts until Jesus
comes back (verses 20,21). At that time, Peter may have thought it would
only be a short season of refreshing for the nation and then Jesus would
shortly return. But he soon discovered that the promise included the
Gentiles, and that season of refreshing has extended to 2000 years so
far. The time of refreshing referred to is the entire gospel age!

So let’s receive all that God is
making available and not mistakenly think that revivals are only meant to be
periodic seasons of blessing for the church. I believe that what we call
revival, God calls normal. Revival can be the normal state of the
church. The reason God has to keep sending revivals is because we keep
sinking below what was intended to be continuous.

When I was a child I eagerly
studied revivals to learn how they started. Then once I became
involved in moves of God in churches, I became more interested in why they stopped.
In every case I studied or observed, specific reasons could be pointed to
concerning why they stopped, and it was never because of God. He
wanted them to keep going and growing! But outside observers who were not
aware of those reasons easily came to the wrong conclusion that God must have
decided to stop what He had started, and then called it “seasonal.”

(Some of those reasons
include: ceasing to allow God to use whoever He wants; ceasing to allow
the move of the Spirit to manifest at any time in the meeting; pride &
jealousy about people who are used; common arguments and disunity; not acting
on guidance from the Lord; backing-down because of criticism of the move; fear
of man, not perceiving the purpose of God. There are so many examples that
could be given of churches that were in the move and were experiencing revival
and church growth, then it suddenly stopped due to the reasons above – it was
like switching off a light or turning off a tap. And there were such
simple, human causes. Then there are examples all around the world of
churches that have continued and become famous in their area because of
continuing in the move – and again, it’s because they responded accurately in
the Spirit and consistently with what God was revealing and doing.

3.Develop and maintain
a relationship of integrity with the Holy Spirit

For example, we sing to usher in
the presence of God – right? Then often His presence comes, and we all
feel it, but then we keep on singing songs like “Let Your Glory Fill this
Place,” or “Summon your Power O God.” We continue on with our song list
when all the while God had sent His anointing to do things in the
meeting! Wouldn’t it be better to honour the Holy Spirit by allowing Him
to take over in different ways when we sense He’s wanting to do that – even if
we don’t get to our next song for an hour? Sometimes I think song leaders
want to do this, but they feel obligated to do the job they’ve been given to
do. Or sometimes we sense an anointing come but we’re so used to having
the preaching first – so we override it by going ahead with the preaching and
then we often try to re-create that sense of anointing on an altar call at the
end. Wouldn’t it be better if the various leaders of a meeting had an
understanding that they will let the Holy Spirit do whatever He wants, whenever
He wants, through whomever He wants – and all the leaders flow together and
make room for each other. We could make room for more flexibility in the
order of our services.

4. When we sense that anointing come into a
meeting, our usual response has been to keep singing, perhaps with a bit more
gusto. We may sing in the Spirit and even dance a little. But I
think that anointing came to do a work in the meeting – and He’s wanting to manifest
Himself. Singing is only one response. Yet it seems to be the one
we do all the time. We began the meeting with singing, then He comes in
response to that, wanting to fill people with laughter, visions of glory,
healing, deliverance etc – He just wants to fill the meeting and everyone in it
– but we keep singing! Some people will still begin to be touched despite
that, but most will just go along with the songs. There could be a
greater manifestation of the touch of God, however, if the song-leader would
instead say to the congregation something like, “The Lord is here to touch
you. Now is the time to just receive. Be filled.
Drink.” Or another leader who felt to could take-over at that
point and begin to encourage the congregation to receive. You don’t even
necessarily need to lay hands on anyone. But if you felt to, you could
move amongst the congregation and begin ministering the Spirit by the laying on
of hands, or by speaking words of faith like “More.” Once Jesus has had
His way, ministering to the people, it usually results in a celebration of
praise, singing and dancing. Out of that, preaching, teaching,
prophesying and interpretation of tongues are inspired, for the instruction of
the people. Sermons sometimes get preached that were not pre-planned – but it’s
birthed by the Spirit – it’s what God wanted said!

5. At other times
you may not feel any special anointing, so you continue with worship and the
Word. Then the anointing can be activated simply by faith in the
Word.

6.Sometimes when
you’re activating this anointing and wanting people to come into it, they tend
to do something they’re already used to doing, such as speaking in tongues or
singing, or even prophesying. I often say, “This is not a time to intercede
but to receive. It’s not a time to speak in tongues – receive. We
can sing later. Now – receive!” Sometimes I come straight out with
it and say, “Laugh!” In the same way that Jesus said to the man with the
withered hand, “Stretch it forth,” and the power of God was activated by the
spoken word of faith, I say, “Laugh,” or “Be Filled,” fully believing that if
they know how to receive, it will happen. Sometimes we don’t get results
when we minister if we don’t know exactly what it is we’re expecting. For
example, Jesus never actually prayed for the sick. He gave
commands. In the same way, we often spend so much time praying for people
when all we really need to do is speak a word of command. But you have to
speak exactly what you want. If you want this anointing to come on them,
say, “Receive,” or “Be filled,” or even “Laugh.” If you’re not clear,
they’ll probably just fall back into an expression that they’re used to.
And it doesn’t just stop with laughter, it may not start there either, but it
results in a wonderful work according to the will of the Spirit in that
person’s life.

7.Sometimes our songs
get in the way because they keep us thinking that we’re still asking God to
move, when in fact He’s already there. So they actually hinder faith and
receiving.

8.We will see new
songs birthed which acknowledge what God is doing rather than contain themes
which keep asking Him for something which is already here and available to
those who make room for it.

Interpretation of
Tongues in Song:

This is a day of
fulfillment

This is a day of
“coming to pass”

This is a day of
activation

9.This move of God
also affects the way we pray. Sometimes God is waiting for us to stop
praying so He can answer our prayers. A lot of our prayers are for the
Holy Spirit to move in the church etc. Then God is ready to pour out His
anointing but we keep praying for it instead of making room for it.

Testimony

I was asked to speak during a
half night of prayer in a particular church. I asked, “How long can I
speak for?” They replied, “40 minutes.” I said, “Well how about I
speak for 20 minutes and then we’ll allow the Holy Spirit to move for 20
minutes (knowing full well that once He started to move, He would spill over
beyond 20 minutes – the meeting couldn’t be the same again!)” They had no
idea what to expect so they said, “Whatever.” Well I spoke, then the Holy
Spirit filled the church – I mean filled. They were drunk with
laughter and received a new anointing. After 40 minutes I dutifully
handed it back to the leader, who was supposed to lead them in prayer.
When she stood up she couldn’t speak. Everyone was laughing. I was
hoping that she wouldn’t just go ahead and pray as usual, because that would be
evidence that they missed the significance of the visitation they’d just
received. Finally she said, “We were supposed to pray for a fresh move of
God – but we’ve just had one! Next, we were supposed to intercede that
our musicians would be anointed – but they’ve just been anointed!
Everything we were supposed to pray for – God has already poured out! So
I think we’ve got nothing left to do but to dance and praise God!”
Hallelujah! She caught it!

There have been more people praying for revival in the
last two decades than ever before in history. Now God is pouring it out
all over the world – so don’t keep begging for it – receive it!

So what place does prayer have? Well, we can ask
God to increase it. We can ask God to do signs & wonders out
in the community. We can pray for our persecutors. We can ask God
to let the outpouring spread. We can pray for backsliders etc. We
still pray, but we pray out of an understanding, an acknowledgment, a
thankfulness and a receiving of what God is already doing. Don’t pray with
ignorance or unawareness of what God is already doing. That blocks faith,
and you keep praying for something which doesn’t need to be prayed for but is
simply a matter of learning to step aside and make room for. After a
church has rolled around laughing, enjoying the Lord, been ministered to by
angels, seen visions, been empowered by the Spirit and ending in a great
celebration of dancing and praise – then when they begin to pray – its
altogether different to if they’d prayed without an acknowledgment of what God
was already up to in their midst. You pray from a more informed stance.

10. It’s simply a matter
of making room for God to move. For this outpouring to happen in your
church, you don’t need to go on a long fast. You don’t need to intercede
any more for it. God is already making it available all over the
world. Just jump in! Even children are being used.

I looked at the program and
thought, “Exactly at what point in this program do you want the ‘great
awakening’ to take place?” I so much wanted to get up and show them how
to make it happen, but I wasn’t a speaker that day.

At another combined churches
meeting, a similar thing happened. But this time they gave me a chance to
speak right at the end. I stood and said, “Today you’ve sung about
revival, you’ve prayed for revival, you’ve had a special song about revival,
and you’ve preached about revival. Now, would you like to have a
revival?” They looked at me weird. Then I said, “You’ve spent 40
minutes singing and 40 minutes preaching, wanting revival. Now God is
saying, “OK, I’ll give it to you.” But then you would have closed the
meeting by now, if it wasn’t for your feeling of obligation to give me the
courtesy of speaking just because you know I’m a missionary. Since we
spent 40 minutes singing and 40 minutes preaching, do you think we could now
give the Holy Spirit just 20 minutes to respond to us?” They all
agreed. But once it started, it went much longer than 20 minutes.
They didn’t want to stop. They were laughing, crying, getting filled and
it didn’t stop there. Finally I exhorted them to get into the habit of
deliberately making room in their services for God to move the way they’ve always
wanted Him to. That’s all the Holy Spirit is waiting for.

11.The Welsh Revival
saw about 200 000 people added to the churches in two years, yet there was
hardly any preaching or leadership in the revival. It all happened
because the young 27 year old revivalist, Evan Roberts, held meetings where he
simply said, “Obey the Holy Spirit.”

12.Find out what is
happening to people after their experience, and if they’ve been given specific
guidance, help them to put action to it. One of the criticisms of this
move of God is that it hasn’t resulted in evangelism or church growth in some
places. But through good leadership, we can channel what God is doing
into real work for God. Saul is a scriptural example of how being “slain
in the spirit” can result in action for God:

ACTS
26:13-20

13 At midday, O
king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me and them which journeyed with
me.

14 And when we
were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying…[then Jesus called
him into the ministry – lets pick it up at Verse 16]

16 But rise,
and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to
make thee a minister and a witness…

19 Whereupon, O king
Agrippa, I WAS NOT DISOBEDIENT UNTO THE HEAVENLY VISION:

20 But shewed first
unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of
Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent…

Saul had a spiritual experience,
a heavenly vision, but then he put action to it, he was not disobedient unto
the heavenly vision.

In the same way, we can encourage
people to get up off the floor and go and obey any direction they’ve received.

Testimonies

In one church, we had some
testimonies after the people had a time of laughing and enjoying the
Lord. One guy said, “I was laughing and I saw a vision of myself leading
an evangelistic team along a mountain.” I said, “Fine – when are you going?”
He hadn’t even thought of doing anything about it! I said, “I want you to
go to your pastor and make a definite plan to obey that vision.” A couple
of months later I was back in that church and I found the young man and asked
him, “What ever happened about your vision, did you go?” He said,
“Yes. We took a team for two weeks. And many people came to
Christ!”

In another church, a girl was
crying then laughing then crying again. We asked her afterwards what was
happening. She said, “I was crying because I saw a vision of my sister
tied in chains by a demon. Then an angel came and beat off the demon and
untied my sister. So I was laughing at the demon. Then some demons
came and fought off the angel and proceeded to tie up my sister again.
They were trying to drag her to the end of a waterfall at the bottom of which
was a river of flames. So I cried again. God told me, “I want you
to go and share the gospel with your sister.” So she went and told her
sister about the vision and she cried and hugged her and received Christ.

In the same church, the first
person to start laughing was an eleven year old boy. God told him to
preach to his teacher and class. So at school, he told them about Jesus
and led them to Christ in prayer. Then they all started laughing!

In this way, you go from laughter
to real results – by acting on the heavenly vision. You’ll go out in a
new anointing that you haven’t known before.

13. Settle it in your heart that it’s not because of
you that people are touched, neither is it your fault if they’re not. You
can go to some meetings and all heaven breaks loose. In other places not
much happens at all, and you can start wondering, “Maybe I didn’t pray
enough.” No. There was probably some reason why they weren’t
accepting it so easily, such as being unsure about the whole move, or having
their minds on the program or the dinner that was to follow. Sometimes
you can think, “Well maybe God just wanted to do something different
tonight.” Maybe, but usually its just that they were having trouble
receiving. Atleast you’ve done your part.

14. As God leads you in the future, always maintain a
relationship with the Holy Spirit. Let Him guide in everything. He
is the director of the church and of all ministry. Stay soft and
sensitive. Follow even when it costs.

15. Remember the most important thing is love.
If we make love our goal, everything else will follow – the manifestation of
the Spirit, and souls being saved.

16. As you go on in this revival, share with us what
you learn along the way!